The process of hiring for student success is important, as college staff, faculty, and administrators affect the lives of students daily and help to determine their success in college and in life. What is at stake is student success and its infrastructure: the quality of the academic environment, the quality of learning, and services for students,…

When Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg sought a leader for the New York City schools in 2002, his outside-the-box choice was Joel I. Klein, a former assistant U.S. attorney general who had no experience as a school administrator. Eight years later, in seeking a replacement for Mr. Klein, Mr. Bloomberg has tapped yet another person from outside education:…

The article presents the benefits of successful collaboration between supported employment agencies and human resource managers when working together to secure employment for individuals with disabilities. Two case studies are presented: one involving a successful collaboration with county human resource managers in negotiating a change in the…

While many school leaders are enticed by the benefits international teachers bring to their schools, some find the process of attracting and hiring educators from other countries to be daunting. Many of the challenges relate to visas. Procuring them can be costly and time-consuming. Additionally, the No Child Left Behind definition of a highly…

Long gone are the days when being an alumnus with great connections and leadership skills meant that one would get the job as the senior alumni relations professional at one's alma mater. Institutions are now seeking alumni relations leaders armed with operational and leadership experience and an understanding of advancement methodology and best…

In this article, the author explains the complications involved when an internal candidate is included in an open search for a leadership position in an academic institution. Internal-candidate syndrome is a dilemma faced by institutions when they have to choose between an internal candidate and an external one. There are two reasons why…

Serving as superintendent, going into his 24th year, the author has completed hundreds of applications and interviewed for nearly a hundred superintendencies. He has accepted seven superintendencies and, in more than 20 instances, have declined offers or withdrawn from consideration after being interviewed. This cumulative experience has produced…

Human resources is out, human capital is in. This article describes how a simple departmental name change has propelled the use of data-driven, observation-based systems that recognize teachers as the primary influence on student achievement. Called the new "it" term in K-12, human capital management (HCM) aligns the development of…

Over the past few years, the focus group method has assumed a very important role as a method for collecting qualitative data in social and behavioural science research. This article elucidates theoretical and practical problems and prospects associated with the use of focus groups as a qualitative research method in social and behavioural science…

This article presents how the division of student affairs at Siena College developed a framework for communicating its Franciscan and Catholic identity to job candidates and current staff. The recruitment for mission process described in this article has a dual purpose. The first is to educate and provide development opportunities for existing…

Community colleges, traditionally resistant to change, must undergo a major transformation in order to become major democratizing and economic forces in a rapidly evolving future. Strong leadership will be needed to bring about the changes. However, fewer and fewer well prepared individuals are entering community college administration, while…

Higher education recruitment has evolved over the years to utilize new technologies. The Internet has had the greatest impact on higher education recruitment and paved the way for many new ways of connecting recruiters with job seekers. The further development of Web 2.0 tools and social media has changed the landscape of recruiting and job…

An increase in teacher hiring in recent years has led some observers to posit a link to the waves of pink slips districts are now sending across the U.S. Between the 1999-2000 and the 2007-08 school years, the teacher force increased at more than double the rate of K-12 student enrollments. Hiring teachers to reduce class sizes remains a…

When search consultants, like the author, are invited to propose their services in support of a college or university seeking new leadership, they are generally asked a fairly standard set of questions. But there is one question that they find among the most difficult to answer: How do they check a candidate's references to ensure that they know…

There are two kinds of references in administrative hires. The most customary is the "on list" references which a candidate asks one to provide. The second kind of reference is the "off list" variety, of which there are two types. Typical is the call one receives from an acquaintance at the hiring institution asking for the "dirt" on one's…